


Until Tomorrow

by geordi_cat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Littlest Hobo (1979)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 09:46:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15337218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geordi_cat/pseuds/geordi_cat
Summary: Long-life doesn't have to be a curse when you've got friends.An interlude between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War.





	Until Tomorrow

The German Shepherd sitting calmly in front of Steve was new since his last visit. He hadn’t really meant to show up here, but once he was on his bike he’d just kept going and, well, next time he looked around it was late, and he was standing on the farmhouse’s porch.

The overhead light shone softly on the pair of them. Steve half expected the dog to explode into action, lunge, bark, something but all it did was sit there. Head cocked slightly sideways, almost amused at the sight of him. It was a handsome dog, good thick coat, solid body, intelligent eyes, but something was odd about its face. Where the black fur would be on a traditionally marked Shepherd there was white, and what was normally tan was a darker brown, almost like the markings had been reversed.

“Steve! Didn’t expect to see you anytime soon. What’s up?” Clint’s voice through the screen door broke the staring match between Steve and the dog. He looked up.

“Just needed out of the city. Got on the bike and ended up here. I can go back a bit and grab a hotel room, didn’t mean to put you to any trouble at this hour.”

“Laura would skin me alive if she found out I’d sent you off, no matter the hour. Come on in.” Clint shoved open the door.

Steve looked down, but the dog had ghosted away while he talked with Clint.

“Nice looking Shepherd you’ve got, how’d Lucky feel about getting a playmate?”

“Smoke was here? I’ll have to let the kids know when they all get back tomorrow. He’s not been coming around as much since I got home.”

“One of the neighbour’s dogs?” Smoke had the appearance of a well-loved working dog.

“Not as far as I know. Laura said he appeared just after we left for Sokovia. According to her, showed up out of nowhere, helped a neighbour take down a cattle rustling ring and seemed all set to vanish back down the road until I brought Nat here to recover after Ultron. First time I saw him’s when he came over to take a look at Nat. Cap, he looked her up and down and I swear if he could talk he would a said ‘close, but not quite’.” Clint shrugged “He’s been showing up now and then ever since. Isn’t interested in coming inside, but sure doesn’t look like he’s sleeping rough. No one in town’s claimed him, but no one’s chickens are going missing either so everyone’s willing to just let him be.”

“Hunh.” Something was knocking at the back of Steve’s brain, but after the ride he’d had he was tired, hungry and parts of him were numb in ways that even supersoldier serum couldn’t immediately fix. He stepped through the door and into the warmth of Clint and Laura’s home.

The bright swath of moonlight across the floor was more than enough to see by without turning on any lights. Steve moved carefully towards the front door, a little fresh air would hopefully blow away the last of the dreams he’d been plagued with. Sitting down on the front stoop he started talking softly. “I remember where I’ve seen you before. It was a picture Peggy had. She said that Erskine, drunk and smelling of schnapps, rousted her and Howard from their beds the night before my procedure, muttering about how they had to test it first, something about not killing the kid. He’d found a stray dog, skinny, sickly, a lot like me actually, and wanted to test the serum and vita-rays on it. Both Howard and Peggy agreed. No one noticed the power fluctuations since they didn’t need as much for a dog and there was plenty of serum left for me the next day. The test was a success; the dog came out of the chamber healthy and much stronger than when it went in. Since the test had been unauthorized none of them bothered to mention it to the higher-ups. Then in the chaos of the next day the dog vanished. Peg always figured it just ran from the crazy people who’d hurt it. So she wrote up a vague report and left it at that.” Steve looked over at the dog sitting next to him on the stoop “It’s good to finally meet you London.”

“So, he was waiting for someone.” Steve jumped a little, he hadn’t heard Clint join them on the steps. London didn’t even twitch. “I thought he might be. Probably got a whiff of the serum scent left from your first time here. Explains the disappointment when he met Nat though, she didn’t get the same version as you.”

The three of them sat in silence for a while.

“He looks like he hasn’t aged since he got the serum though Clint. I think I might have guessed but this looks like proof that I’m going to be around a lot longer than I ever expected.”

“Mmmm yup, probably.” Clint heaved himself to his feet “Nothing I can say to make that better, wish there was. But here’s the thing – when you came out of the ice you were all alone. Now you know that Bucky’s out there, in whatever shape he’s in, and you’ve just found another creature that’s going to be around as long as you. Doesn’t look like any of you are ready to settle down in one place anytime soon but when you are, well, you won’t be alone.” Clint ruffled London’s fur and patted Steve’s shoulder “and I’m back to bed, this is way too early for us mere mortals.” He turned and disappeared back into the house.

Steve smoothed a hand down London’s back as the sun rose over the horizon. “He’s right; neither of us are settling yet, but eventually we’ll end up somewhere we can call home.”


End file.
